the manhunt - Simon Armitage Flashcards
“after the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days”
It shows the time taken to care for him.
- Number “first” shows the process takes time and its not an immediate healing.
- Time Contrast “nights and days” shows a constant patience and caring for him.
- Sensual Language “passionate” “intimate” shows the love for each other, hoping her husband’s wound would heal.
“only then would he let me trace the frozen river which ran through his face”
It is describing his injuries sustained from the war on his face.
- Adjective “only” shows that he doesn’t immediately warm up.
- Verb “trace” shows careful treatment because her husband became foreign to her.
- Metaphor “frozen river shows a permanent scar and he feels mentally numb, he can’t move on as he is stuck in one place.
“only then would he let me explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw,”
Collection of broken objects which makes me seems less alive, it is almost as if injuries are taking away his humanity.
- Verb “explore” shows careful treatment again.
- Metaphor shows thats he is physically and mentally broken as he no longer opens up because he can’t talk to his wife.
It is hard for him.
“and handle and hold the damaged, porcelain collar bone.”
He needs to be cared for gently.
- Aliteration “handle and hold” shows nurturing.
- Metaphor “porcelain collar bone” shows the fragility of humans and it is very delicate and needs to be taken care of.
“and mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder-blade.”
The wife is trying her best to take care of her husband.
- Medical attention “mind and attend” shows an attempt to heal the husband.
- Metaphor “fractured rudder” shows the inability to move and this could further implies that he can’t move on with his life because it is hard, and lost his purpose of living.
“and finger and thumb the parachute silk of his punctured lung.”
Showing the delicate manner the wife is handling the husband.
- Noun “parachute” are used in military however a broken parachute is useless, this perhaps shows the insight the husband have on himself.
- Noun “silk” is a valuable item and this could metaphorically means his organs are valuable.
“climb the rung of his broken ribs,”
The journey to heal the husband is hard.
- Metaphor “climb” shows the use of ladder imagery where the wife has to put the effort to find answers and gradually come to her husband’s state of mind.
- Adjective “broken” shows that it was a hard process.
“and feel the hurt of his grazed heart.”
This line explores how the narrator feels her husband’s emotional pain, as well as the scars on his body.
- Metaphor “grazed heart” shows that the bullet physically touched his heart, which is life threatening but also shows how there is a scar on his heart which made him no longer able to connect to feel positive emotions.
“the foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had finally come to rest.”
The events is very life changing
- Metaphor “foetus” shows that this event was a life changing events for both the husband and wife as if it’s a similar experience with having a baby.
“to a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind.”
The husband can be triggered at any time, he is not psychologically stable.
- Metaphor “sweating, unexploded mine” shows how dangerous and uncontrollable this trigger is.
- Adjective “buried deep” shows a clear picture that this event doesn’t want to be remembered because it brings trauma.
“then, and only then, did I come close.”
Shows the impact of war.
- Repetition “only then” for 4 times shows this is an extremely slow process of recovery.
- Even till the end of the poem, which should signify an end to the trauma, the husband still hasn’t fully healed which shows that psychological scars are worse than physical ones.
CONTEXT
- Poetry is often dealt with modern life
- Wrote it for a documentary entitled “Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead” which highlights the painful truth of lives damaged beyond help as a result of war and conflict.
- Based on Eddie Beddos and his wife, Laura who was a peace keeper in the Bosnian War which caused him to have PTSD.
- Written in 2007.
- Eddie became very sensitive to sounds after this, especially popping sound and was life changing for him.
